After having his 2009 AMA Pro Daytona SportBike Championship tarnished by pundits who claimed he only won races and the title because the Buell 1125R he raced gave him an unfair advantage, Geico Powersports RMR Suzuki rider Danny Eslick silenced his critics Thursday night at Daytona International Speedway by claiming pole position for the 69th running of the Daytona 200. When asked what he would like to say to those critics, Eslick said, “What I’ve done my whole life is ride motorcycles as hard as I can. We did it last year, won races and ended up winning the Championship. We turned around, put the number one plate on a Suzuki, showed up at Daytona and put it on pole. So it speaks for itself.” Eslick said he worked together in the draft with Team M4 Monster Energy Suzuki’s Martin Cardenas, and the strategy worked. Eslick lapped the historic 3.5-mile infield road course in 1:50.085 on his GSX-R600, earning him the Daytona SportBike pole position by a scant 0.002 second, and Cardenas recorded the second-best lap, a 1:50.087. When Eslick then headed into the pits, Cardenas decided to look for another drafting partner, slowing in the infield and looking back. That allowed the right side of the tire to cool, Cardenas said, and he lost the front and crashed in the chicane. Cardenas was uninjured in the fall. In only his second race outing at Daytona, Tommy Aquino, age 17, qualified third on his Graves Motorsports Yamaha YZF-R6 with a 1:50.166. Aquino’s teammate Josh Herrin, a Daytona 200 podium finisher last year, grabbed the final spot on the front row with a lap of 1:50.294 even though he was still feeling the aftereffects of a crash during Thursday morning’s frigid provisional qualifying session. Latus Motors Racing Ducati’s Steve Rapp (1:50.713), Project 1 Atlanta Yamaha’s Dane Westby (1:50.832), Four Feathers Racing Yamaha’s Josh Day (1:51.184) and Picotte Racing Suzuki’s 18-year-old Canadian Brett McCormick (1:51.431) will start from row two. AMA Pro Daytona SportBike Championship Daytona International Speedway Daytona Beach, Florida March 4, 2010 Combined Final Qualifying Results (3.5-mile course, all on Dunlop tires): 1. Danny Eslick (Suz GSX-R600), 1:50.085 2. Martin Cardenas (Suz GSX-R600), 1:50.087, crash 3. Tommy Aquino (Yam YZF-R6), 1:50.166 4. Josh Herrin (Yam YZF-R6), 1:50.294 5. Steve Rapp (Duc 848), 1:50.713 6. Dane Westby (Yam YZF-R6), 1:50.832 7. Josh Day (Yam YZF-R6), 1:51.184 8. Brett McCormick (Suz GSX-R600), 1:51.431 9. Cory West (Suz GSX-R600), 1:51.493 10. Kevin Coghlan (Yam YZF-R6), 1:51.820 11. Shawn Higbee (Buell 1125R), 1:52.305 12. Michael Barnes (Yam YZF-R6), 1:52.355 13. Bostjan Skubic (Yam YZF-R6), 1:52.652 14. Clinton Seller (Yam YZF-R6), 1:52.883 15. Fernando Amantini (Kaw ZX-6R), 1:52.939 16. Geoff May (Suz GSX-R600), 1:53.043 17. Eric Wood (Hon CBR600RR), 1:53.267 18. Jeff Wood (Suz GSX-R600), 1:53.508 19. P.J. Jacobsen (Suz GSX-R600), 1:53.603 20. Russ Wikle (Suz GSX-R600), 1:53.705 21. Bobby Fong (Duc 848), 1:54.327 22. Taylor Knapp (Duc 848), 1:54.554 23. Kris Turner (Suz GSX-R600), 1:54.562 24. Ryan Patterson (Yam YZF-R6), 1:54.768 25. Mark Crozier (Duc 848), 1:54.913 26. A. Padovani (Duc 848), 1:55.250 27. Santiago Villa (Suz GSX-R600), 1:55.303 28. Melissa Paris (Yam YZF-R6), 1:55.494 29. Walt Sipp (Buell 1125R), 1:55.506 30. Alex Lazo (Yam YZF-R6), 1:55.830 31. Ricky Orlando (Kaw ZX-6R), 1:55.899 32. Paul James (Buell 1125R), 1:56.611 33. Dario Marchetti (Duc 848), 1:56.964 34. Robert Vargas (Kaw ZX-6R), 1:57.062 35. Reese Wacker (Suz GSX-R600), 1:57.385 36. Barrett Long (Kaw ZX-6R), 1:57.441 37. Mark McCormick (Yam YZF-R6), 1:57.663 38. John Ashmead (Kaw ZX-6R), 1:57.697 39. Eric Haugo (Yam YZF-R6), 1:57.751 40. Kyle Keesee (Kaw ZX-6R), 1:57.886 41. D. Dumain (Yam YZF-R6), 1:58.446 42. Craig Moodie (Yam YZF-R6), 1:59.678 43. Anthony Fania, Jr. (Suz GSX-R600), 1:59.811 44. Calvin Martinez (Duc 848), 2:03.027, Did Not Qualify 45. David McPherson (Yam YZF-R6), 2:03.386, Did Not Qualify 110% of Fast Time: 2:01.093 More, from a press release issued by Daytona International Speedway: Danny Eslick Puts Richie Morris Racing On The Pole For Daytona 200 DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. Danny Eslick, aboard the No. 1 GEICO Powersports Suzuki for Richie Morris Racing, captured the pole on Thursday night for the 69th Daytona 200 Daytona SportBike AMA Pro Racing event. Eslick, the defending Daytona SportBike champion, turned a fast lap of 1 minute, 50.085 seconds, 116.092 mph, on Daytona International Speedway’s 3.51-mile road course to edge M4 Monster Energy Suzuki rider Martin Cardenas by two thousandths of a second. “I thought I had it in my hands (last year) and that one slipped away,” Eslick said. “To get it this year, means a lot. It hasn’t sunk in yet, I don’t think. Maybe tomorrow when I see that Rolex it will be a little different. It’s great. It’s good momentum to get the season started off on the right foot.” Rounding out the front row will be Team Graves Yamaha riders Tommy Aquino and Josh Herrin. Other notable qualifying efforts include 2007 Daytona 200 champion Steve Rapp (fifth), Michael Barnes (12th), MPH Racing’s Melissa Paris (28th) and 1989 Daytona 200 champion John Ashmead 38th. The Daytona 200 will go green under the lights on Friday night at 8 p.m. Jake Zemke Claims SuperBike Victory In Debut With Michael Jordan Motorsports DAYTONA BEACH, FL Jake Zemke, making his debut with owner Michael Jordan, won Thursday’s AMA Pro American SuperBike round and delivered the NBA legend his first AMA Pro SuperBike win as an owner. In a tight five-bike duel, Zemke, who has ridden for Honda for the majority of his career, took the lead for the final time coming to the white flag as he slipped past Suzuki’s Tommy Hayden. He was able to distance himself on the final lap of the 15-lap event to claim a .0238 second victory. “My bike was really fast,” said Zemke, who led six laps. “I’ve been riding on Hondas the last 10 years and been getting beat up by Suzukis for a few of those years. I’m real happy. The bike is obviously competitive.” Zemke’s first SuperBike win at Daytona was also Suzuki’s seventh straight SuperBike triumph at Daytona. “I purposely gave Jake a little gap off there because I wanted him to pull me most of the way around there, but I just underestimated his speed,” said Hayden, who took runner-up honors. Not only was the race Zemke’s first with Michael Jordan Motorsports, but it was also his first with sponsor National Guard. “It’s great to have all these people rooting for you,” Zemke said. “They’re watching on satellite over in Iraq and Afghanistan. It’s really cool when you think about it. There are 360,000 National Guard members serving our country. I’m really proud to be part of that.” Rounding out the podium was Larry Pegram on a Ducati. Earlier in the day, SuperSport rider Cameron Beaubier held off pole sitter Joey Pascarella to win the 35-mile SuperSport race. The 17-year-old Beaubier worked his way around Pascarella as they were coming to the white flag. Pascarella, who led six laps of the 12-lap race, battled back only to be beat at the line by .001 seconds in a photo-finish. “Me and Joey started battling and it went into the last lap,” said Beaubier. “I had no idea (I won). I thought he won at first just because he was on the inside.” Jake Gagne rallied to finish third after missing the chicane earlier in the race with J.D. Beach and Tomas Puerta rounding out the top five. For tickets to all the Daytona 200 Week events, call 1-800-PITSHOP or visit www.daytonainternationalspeedway.com. Fans can stay connected with Daytona International Speedway on Twitter (www.twitter.com/disupdates) and Facebook (www.facebook.com/DaytonaInternationalSpeedway). More, from a press release issued by Team M4 Monster Energy Suzuki: CARDENAS SECOND IN 69th DAYTONA 200 QUALIFYING Team M4 Monster Energy Suzuki and Martin Cardenas came within 0.002 seconds of winning the pole position for the 69th running of the legendary Daytona 200 on Thursday night at Daytona International Speedway. Cardenas teamed up with rival Danny Eslick and the two Daytona SportBike title hopefuls ran in close company, utilizing each other’s draft to post the two quickest times of the qualifying session. The Colombian clocked a blistering 1:50.087 aboard his GSX-R600 but fell just fractions of a second short of claiming the top spot on the grid and the Rolex that is awarded for winning the pole for the Daytona 200. Martin continued to push late in an attempt to steal away the pole but suffered a crash in the infield. Fortunately he escaped unharmed and is optimistic about his chances in tomorrow’s 200-miler. “We started the session with used tires and tried to work together because here the draft is very important and without it it’s very difficult to get a good lap time without one,” Cardenas said of running together with Eslick. “We got up to speed and came in and put on a new rear tire and we started to go for some fast laps. One of them we got a good time but unfortunately for me mine was just a little bit slower. “I kept pushing all the way because I really wanted pole position but it wasn’t possible. Unfortunately, I had a small crash at the end of the session but I’m okay. I think the bike is set up really well for tomorrow and the team is working really good,” said Cardenas. John Hopkins suffered through a difficult reintroduction to AMA Pro Road Racing on Thursday in his debut American Superbike race with Team M4 Monster Energy Suzuki. Still playing catch-up while learning the short circuit and setting up his GSX-R1000, Hopkins qualified on the third row for the weekend’s doubleheader with the tenth best time at 1:40.495. ‘Hopper’ got a strong start in the day’s 15-lap contest, however, quickly slicing inside the top five but his challenge last less than a lap as mechanical issues put his bid for the win to an early end. “During qualifying, we basically set up the bike for the infield and spent too much time doing that,” Hopkins said. “I got it way too soft and was having to run less than full throttle at times on the banking. We also gambled and put on a rear shock that we hadn’t even tried before for the race but it seemed to be paying off. “I tried to make the most of where we were starting — which wasn’t too good in the first place. I made it up to fourth place on the first lap and then I ran wide in one of the corners and (Aaron) Yates got by me. I started doing what I could and was still there in the draft but coming out of the chicane onto the banking, I ran into trouble with the bike and had to pull in,” said the former Grand Prix star. “I’m definitely glad we’ve got another shot at it tomorrow. I wouldn’t have wanted to go away for a month after today’s race. Hopefully we can come back tomorrow, regroup, and make it happen.” Cardenas and Hopkins will both be chasing victory on Friday, with the second half of the week’s Superbike doubleheader taking place in the afternoon and the 57-lap Daytona 200 taking place under the lights on Friday evening.